


I'll take all your broken things

by 1000ft



Series: hey arizona [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-13 18:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12990393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1000ft/pseuds/1000ft
Summary: Keith knows the others have a harder time of it. The rest of the paladins had left people behind. People to miss and people who would miss them.





	I'll take all your broken things

Keith could say that, in all the places they’d visited in the universe so far, the most surprising, gut-wrenching and mind-blowing aspect of alien civilizations was the…kid-friendly…ness.

  
Well, outside of the battle zones and alien warships and destroyed civilizations and Shiro’s PTSD. The aliens themselves, their…physical makeup, were tame in a way that Keith hadn’t anticipated. Where were the masses of sentient matter that thrived in the vacuum of space? Where were the creatures with brain processes so complex that the lions couldn’t translate?

  
Not that Keith was _disappointed_ or anything. Saving the universe from an evil overlord hellbent on domination was plenty satisfying, in an I-have-a-purpose kind of way. Maybe even a thank-whatever-higher-power-that-I-didn’t-have-to-rot-on-Earth-with-a-9-to-five kind of way. He wouldn’t be sharing that one with anyone, though, even if it was true. It was far from the most important thing to him, being out here.

  
Keith’s fingers tightened around the rubber ball in his hands. Lance had been throwing it at the rec room wall earlier, absentmindedly catching-throwing-catching-throwing as he talked with Pidge. Keith had nabbed it from where Lance left it in the kitchen a little later.

  
The most important thing to him.

  
Keith eased his grip and flicked the ball at the wall. Catch. Throw. Repeat.

  
Mindless.

  
_The most important thing to me._

  
That was the training exercise for the afternoon. _Another_ bonding exercise, targeted at their goals and their motivations, importance heightened due to the fact that they weren’t all willing participants in saving the universe. Now, two years into it, of course things have changed, the team acknowledges that they want to and will and have saved parts of the universe. But that lingering doubt, the thoughts of _will we ever get back to Earth?_ still cling to some of their shoulders.

  
Keith knows the others have a harder time of it. The rest of the paladins had left people behind. People to miss and people who would miss _them_.

  
He isn’t paying attention and the ball bounces off the wall and into Keith’s lap. He tips his head back against the hallway wall and lets the ball sit there.

  
Did he even have something more important to him than the job they were doing? A year ago, he would’ve scrounged up something about finding out who he was, where he came from. But the Blade had taken care of that, and Shiro’s absence had drilled it home: this mission was more than just finding out about his past. This was about all of them, the paladins and Allura and Coran and the entirety of the universe, finding out how to grow and who they’d be in the future.

  
Not all at once, obviously, but over time. Over lightyears of space and countless planets. Finding out how they work together and who’s strengths lie where.

  
The question pressed itself into the space behind Keith’s eyes. He shifted on the floor, rubber ball rolling out of his lap and running parallel to his leg. Keith thought of Pidge and Hunk’s excited, rapid-fire tech talk, the tense line of Shiro’s shoulders and the way they relaxed when the team nailed training exercises. Allura’s sharp eyes and measured words contradicting the soft pressure of a hand on his back. Coran’s limitless energy and infinite knowledge.

  
Keith thought of Lance’s inspiration of hope. Determination and tenacity that rivaled his own.

  
He stood on cold-numbed legs, dusting lint that wasn’t there off his pants. The most important thing to him. Keith wanted to laugh, felt it bubbling whole and light in his chest—his answer was probably the same as the others. He just had the benefit of having his family _with_ him.

  
Keith grabbed the rubber ball and made his way to the training deck.

**Author's Note:**

> Team Family? In MY house? It's more likely thank you think.   
> Alternate comment: Random Tense changes? In MY writing? Yeah...like...all the time. I'm so sorry.   
> Thanks for scanning your eyeballs across the screen and processing small symbols.


End file.
